Gorgonzola Pear Pizza

Last week was filled with celebrations from a

reunion to graduation and we had two pizza parties

for about 25 people for each party.

If you haven't seen our pizza oven and the transformation

of our kitchen 7 years ago click here.

The pizza oven has been the heart of our kitchen and 

our entertaining.  Today I made a 

Gorgonzola Pear Pizza.

Most people don't have a built in pizza oven, but you can

replicate this crunchy crusted pizza with a pizza stone

or on the BBQ.  The trick is to preheat a pizza stone

at 550 degrees for an hour.  If that seems like a long time,

our wood fired pizza oven needs to have a fire built in

it for 2 1/2 hours before we make pizza, but since that is

about the same time I need for the dough, I make the fire

and the dough and then have a couple of hours to spare.

(Here the pizza sits on the pizza peel ready to be placed on the hot

bottom of the oven.)

Gorgonzola Pear Pizza

Prepared and risen pizza dough formed into balls

(Recipe here)

Prepared alfredo sauce

Sliced pears

Gorgonzola cheese

Pine nuts (optional)

Arugula

Walnuts

I chose to top it with an alfredo sauce, then pears, pine nuts

gorgonzola cheese and caramelized onions, but you could

also just top it with olive oil instead of the alfredo sauce.

The bottom of the pizza oven is about 650 to 700 degrees so

the pizza cooks in just minutes.

I topped the finished pizza with arugula, walnuts, and a

garnish of fresh pear.  

Pizza is such a versatile and well loved food at our house.

For the recipe for the dough and options for other

kinds of pizzas we love to make such as Tai Chicken,

BBQ Chicken, and Lemon Raspberry dessert pizza

click here.

Buzzing Bees Tablescape

The bees are buzzing around here with Spring's advent

and they decided to come out and join our table today.

The tulips are beautiful but Monday we almost reached 90 degrees

and the ones in the shade survived but the tulips at the front

of the house just melted in the heat.

Fortunately these beautiful double tulips were spared.

I just had to take this table outside to enjoy the pretty weather.

A touch of bright yellow pansies is the perfect touch

for this yellow and white table.

I just love these beautiful bee plates with their 

honeycomb edges.

They layer beautifully with my white plates and a yellow

ruffled placemat.

The Napoleon Bee flatware was the only choice for my 

Buzzing Bees table.

The inspiration for the table is this wonderful new beehive shaped

pewter bowl that I found on my Spring Break trip to Cabo.

I have never seen one like this before and I thought I needed

it for a salad bowl to go with my bee plates.

We look out at two mountain peaks - from this direction it is

Mount Timpanogos.

From this direction we look at Squaw Peak.

Here is a close up of the bees that are on the outside of the inverted

hive.

If you haven't used any pesticides on your pansies they

are edible and so beautiful in a Spring salad.  I tossed

spring greens with chicken and raspberries and then threw

in some edible flowers for this salad.

A bowl of bright yellow lemons is perfect for

the center of the table.  Yellow is such a happy color.

I paired yellow and clear bubble glasses to finish off the table.

Hope you have a sunny happy day and go out and enjoy

the flowers.

Posting with

Let's Dish

Tablescapes Thursday

Feathered Nest Friday

Seasonal Sunday

Dusted Triple Chocolate Drop Cookies

I found these fabulous

Cookie Envelopes

from Wilton

and had to whip up a batch of cookies

to give away in them.

I found them at JoAnn Fabrics and they come in

all sorts of styles.  They make a simple cookie 

a beautiful gift.

I first had these fun and easy cookies when my 

daughter's sister in law made them for us.

She wrapped the cookie dough around a Rolo

candy.  We have since experimented with them

with Mini Snickers and Mini Milky Way Bars.

They are so easy and good.

Dusted Triple Chocolate Drop Cookies

1 box Betty Crocker Triple Chocolate Cake Mix

1/2 C. butter, almost melted

1 egg

Mini Rolos (optional)

Powdered sugar

Mix the cake mix, butter and egg in the mixer

and beat until well blended.

You can either drop by rounded tablespoons

or take a mini Rolo or Mini Snicker, etc. and

wrap the dough around the candy.

Place on a parchment lined baking sheet.

Bake at 350 for 7 minutes and let cool until

set on the baking sheet.  Fill a small bowl with

powdered sugar and place the cookie in,

coating all sides of the cookie.  Remove and

let finish cooling on another piece of parchment

paper.

You can have little gifts made up for friends or neighbors

in just half an hour using this easy recipe and these

fun cookie wrappers.

We made some with Rolos and some without.

Do you celebrate May Day?

We used to when we were growing up by making little

cones and filling them with cookies and hanging them on

the neighbor's doors.  These would be adorable to use

for May Day.

Enjoy!

I will be posting 

with

Foodie Friday

Chocolate Overload Cake

Definitely a cake for Chocoholics!

 My daughter saw this cake on Pinterest and

decided to make one for a family dinner.  The pictures 

don't do it justice!  It was breathtaking when she walked

in with it on her ruffled purple cake platter.

Her inspiration was this Chocolate Wasted cake

at the Art of Dessert

This is definitely a cake for chocolate lovers - chocolate cake

topped with chocolate icing then chocolate chips, chocolate chunks

and finally drizzled with melted chocolate.  Nope - not too rich 

for me! 

 I loved it!!!

Chocolate Overload Cake

Bake your favorite two layer cake and frost it generously

with your favorite chocolate frosting.  Press generous amounts

of chocolate chips and chocolate chunks into the frosting

around the sides and the top of the cake - she used semi-sweet

for those.

Melt 1 C. milk chocolate chips and add 1 tsp. oil.  Stir in.

Drizzle the melted chocolate over the cake.  Let the

chocolate set up.

Dig in and enjoy!

I am so bad, my mouth is watering as I am typing.  

Wish I had another piece Jessica!

I love what Pinterest has done for all of the young

mothers in our family.  They are motivated to try new

things and experiment from cooking to sewing and crafting.

Keep baking me goodies!

I will be posting with

Foodie Friday

Lasagna Soup

This wonderful soup is great with or without the

noodles so if you are watching your carb intake just

leave the noodles out.  It comes together so quickly and

easily.  It is great for a weeknight meal.

I remember getting this out of a women's magazine years ago

but now I don't remember which one.  It is a family favorite.

Lasagna Soup

1 1/2 lb. sweet Italian sausage

1 large onion, chopped finely

4 cloves garlic, minced

28 oz. can crushed tomatoes

4 T. tomato paste

2 tsp. oregano, dried

6 C. chicken broth

2 bay leaves

6-8 oz. radiatore or curly noodles

8 oz. ricotta cheese

1/4 C. parmesan cheese

1/2 tsp. oregano

1/4 tsp. salt

In a large saucepan cook the meat with the onion and the garlic.

Drain excess oil if necessary.  Add the tomatoes and paste, the oregano,

broth and bay leaves.  Bring to a boil, then turn down and let simmer for

20-30 minutes.  Add 6-8 oz. radiatore noodles or whatever shape you

desire (these are radiatore) and cook until al dente.  

Meanwhile, mix the cheeses, the oregano and the salt in a bowl.

Set aside.

When the pasta is cooked, serve in bowls and top with a scoop

of cheese.  Garnish with fresh oregano or basil.  This is fresh

oregano that is already up in my garden so I used oregano.

I love the presentation with the cheese on top.  Some young

ones might prefer to skip the cheese.  The radiatore noodles are

really fun and everyone loves them but if you can't find those

just get some curly pasta.

The soup stands on its own

 with or without the noodles or the cheese.

I will be posting this with

Foodie Friday

Cabo Barbie

Barbie and Teresa were spotted vacationing

in Cabo and with our high powered lenses

we were able to catch a few exclusive shots.

Swimming in a pool overlooking the Pacific ocean

they are the picture of Spring Break.

Teresa almost looks like she was posing for a photo shoot.

Girlfriends are so much fun to vacation with.

Wow, Barbie found a natural waterfall to wash 

her beautiful blonde hair in.

A little dancing poolside to the upbeat music.

Love the pristine location.

We even caught a few action shots.

Ooh, who's the new guy?  Haven't seen him in Barbie's

crowd before!

Looks like he is getting to know the girls.

Impressing the girls!

Watch me while I do a little rock climbing girls!

Now a little sun time.

"Barbie, can you put some suncreen on my back?"

"Hey, let's head to the beach!"

"Wow, those waves are great!"

Teresa got started on a little sand castle.

But Brandon soon distracted them.

Definitely a fun, fun guy!

Vacation is such a fun time to meet someone new!

But the girls head out for a night on the town without

Brandon

And guess who they ran into?

That's right, The Bieb was in Cabo too.

And that was Spring Break in Cabo.

Just more reasons to 

LOVE CABO!

This was inspired by 

Barbie and Ken's Wedding at

Beatrice De Guigne

I will be posting this with

Weekend Wrapup

Pink Saturday

Seasonal Sunday

Barbie and Teresa brought to you by Mattel.

Fashions from Mattel